Next month, Ms McMillan will enact her childhood dream for a second time as one of the main attractions at the 2007 concert.

She said last year's debut, her first in front of a 20,000-plus crowd, was initially nerve-wracking. But she made it her mission for her audience to have fun, coaxing its members to raise and wave their candles and 'glowers'.

"It was huge. Being on stage, it feels so Christmas."

A regular soloist with the Ashton-Smith Singers of Australia, Ms McMillan's naturally operatic voice is more than a match for booming carol favourites such as O Come All Ye Faithful.

But she also loves to lower her voice to purr softer carols such as Away in a Manger.

"There's nothing better than a traditional Christmas carol. Everyone knows them. God forbid you forget the words."

Ms McMillan, 28, said the Jells Park event was popular even when she attended as a child with her Bayswater family.

"It was the only place the whole family could go [at Christmas time] and everyone could get something out of it.

"It seemed so spectacular to me."

She said it was one of the few carol services that drew crowds from neighbouring municipalities, and was comparable to the Sidney Myer Bowl carols event.

"How many other councils put on fireworks?"

Ms McMillan plans to pursue an opera singing scholarship in Germany.

"At 28, I'm still a baby in operatic terms."

The City of Monash Carols by Candlelight, sponsored by Monash Journal, is at Jells Park, Wheelers Hill, at 7.15pm on December 16. For more details, phone 95183636 or, for the hearing-impaired, TTY 95183655.